A college student is going viral after she spent what she believed was excess money for college that she received from FAFSA.
TikTok user Lana (@the_lanag) went on a nearly seven-minute tirade from inside her car. “Y’all want to know how [expletive] stupid FAFSA is,” she asked.
The student then proceeded to tell viewers how “stupid” she believed “life” and “college” were. “FAFSA can suck my [expletive],” Lana wrote in the text overlay of her clip, which has amassed more than 242,600 views.
What happened?
Lana said that she attends a community college and was approved for federal student aid through FAFSA.
“I specifically made sure that it was going to be enough to cover my whole tuition—not only for this semester, but for next semester as well,” she said.
Prior to the beginning of classes, however, Lana said she received a refund for $3,500—an amount she wasn’t expecting. Because it seemed fishy that she would get so much excess cash, Lana said she called her school to make sure the money she received was legit. At the time, she said she was told it was, and that her classes were paid for.
But then she received a call from her school that changed everything.
One day before classes were slated to start, Lana said, “miss girl on the phone” told her that she had a balance of nearly $3,000. The student was apparently told that if she didn’t pay the balance soon, she’d get dropped for her classes.
“She was like, ‘You’re going to have to call financial aid tomorrow,’” Lana recalled. But financial aid offered no help. Upon calling back to her school, Lana said she finally got in touch with a specialist who told her that financial aid mistakenly sent her the $3,500.
Therein lies the problem, though: Lana had already spent the money.
Was it irresponsible to spend $3k in three months?
“Was it irresponsible of me to spend $3,000 in three months? Yes, it was. I’ll admit that,” Lana said.
In the end, Lana said she was given two options: Pay back the money or get dropped from her classes. But the student said she couldn’t understand why she was on the hook for the money owed.
“It was y’all’s [expletive]. Why is it now [put] on me?” she questioned. “Why do I have to pay that money back whenever y’all gave me the wrong amount in the first place?”
Lana enrolled in a payment plan to avoid getting dropped from her classes. But that means she now owes four payments of $700 that she has to pay every two weeks. To make matters worse, Lana said she also needs to apply for another student loan to afford her payments.
“Now I’m going to be $7,500 in debt,” she said.
Leftover financial aid should be spent responsibly
According to Lending Tree, loans or grants received through financial aid disbursements are typically paid out at the beginning of each semester. That money from financial aid is sent directly to your school, it notes, which then applied to money for your tuition, fees, and other expenses.
But sometimes there is money leftover. In that case, the school will send the remaining money to you and you can use it to cover other expenses, including textbooks.
Students are expected to take note of whatever leftover money they receive, however. According to one forum where students discussed college payment advice, “if it’s in your account the next time you file FAFSA, you’ll have to report it as an asset unless you can [prove] that it was from FA.”
In a 2023 post to r/college, a Reddit user said that they, too, had leftover FAFSA money. And even though FAFSA technically won’t ask too many questions about how or where the money was spent, users advised using the cash on school-related expenses.
“You can technically use it for whatever after your tuition is paid,” one redditor wrote. “I recommend using it for your necessities.”
Viewers torn on whether to support student
In her video, Lana didn’t specify what she did with the nearly $3,500 she received after she believed that her tuition was paid off. But some commenters weren’t exactly sympathetic to her plight and said she should’ve either saved the money or used it on school-related expenses.
“Girl, no hate or anything, but the money they give you from FAFSA is not for bills,” one woman wrote. “It’s for whatever you need throughout the school semester.”
“Financial aid is for school,” another wrote. “If you choose to spend it on other things those are the consequences.”
“Never ever spend the refunds from FAFSA,” a third commenter advised. “Save it! Just in case you retake a class or extra supplies are needed.”
But not everyone was as harsh. In fact, some viewers offered advice to Lana and other students about what to do with excess money moving forward.
“The general rule with FAFSA is to always hold the refunds for emergency situations,” one viewer said.
“I work in financial aid. Here are some tips 1. Get everything in writing/print (going in person is better) 2. Don’t spend your refunds. 3. Find out the cost of attendance and make sure that the Pell [Grant] you got will give you a refund. 4. Ask questions 3-4 weeks prior to tuition dues. 5. Be patient with the FA staff, a lot of the times it’s 1-3 people who are doing the awarding work for the entire school,” another person advised.
@the_lanag like can i catch a break?! #marketing#school#fafsa#socialmediamarketing#digitalcourse#overit#college ♬ original sound – Lana 🪬
The Daily Dot reached out to Lana via TikTok comment and to FAFSA through its online media portal.
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